


dear one, tell me that we're one

by eightisms (singasongofus)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Love Is A Choice And It's A Choice We Make Together, M/M, but this is a not-soulmates au, endgame seokgyu, past unrequited gyuhao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:09:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23796670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singasongofus/pseuds/eightisms
Summary: it doesn't matter that they're not soulmates. this is his love, to choose and to cherish.
Relationships: Kim Mingyu/Lee Seokmin | DK, Kim Mingyu/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	dear one, tell me that we're one

**Author's Note:**

> title from duke ellington’s “dancing in the dark” (referenced in hozier’s “almost (sweet music)”, which this fic is inspired by) i didn’t get the chance to participate in svt jukebox’s hoziervt, so this is my wish-fulfillment fic (and also my first svt fic).

Less than 4% of the population meet their soulmate. A passing Google search tells Mingyu that there are no available statistics for how many of these lucky people get married to their soulmate, which is unsurprising to him; he doesn’t know any soulmate pairs who aren’t married. The science behind it all is iffy at best and nonexistent at worse: there are no biological factors, or physical markings. Anecdotal data suggests that soulmates can just tell that they’re meant for each other, like a feeling. People call it Knowing, capital K, which Mingyu thinks is stupid, but who is he to defy linguistic convention like that. 

Mingyu moved into his college dorm on a Wednesday. There was another boy already moved in but not yet unpacked, sitting on the floor and sorting folded shirts into a drawer. He looked up when Mingyu opened the door, travel pillow still around his neck, and Mingyu Knew, capital K, like bright neon letters flashing in his mind. If his roommate noticed, he didn’t say anything.

It’s been 5 years and Minghao still hasn’t said a word about it; he must know by now, even if it isn’t capital-K Knowing. Mingyu doesn’t get it-- he knows he wears his heart on his sleeve, so the way he feels for Minghao must be visible somehow, affection and longing filling his heart and spilling out of him in equal parts.

He wonders what it looks like from the outside, but more than that he wonders what it looks like to Soonyoung. His first year of university, the only year he lived with Minghao, Soonyoung was over so often he might as well have been their third roommate. It didn’t take long for Mingyu to put two and two together-- Minghao looks at Soonyoung with the tender hungriness only a lover could, proud and protective in equal measure. They’re not soulmates, but he didn’t know that at the time. He doesn’t know that it would be easier if he had.

The easy solution is to hate Soonyoung, but Soonyoung makes himself very easy to love. He treats everyone with the same bright, easy kindness, intense in its own way, and he has never treated Mingyu any differently, for all he took one look at him and said “I know you’re in love with him, and I’m sorry.” That, if anything, is an indication of how visible his feelings for Minghao are. Or maybe it’s not-- maybe Soonyoung can see his own heart reflected in Mingyu’s quiet longing. Mingyu wonders what it’s like to love someone who you know isn’t meant for you.

Wondered, past tense. A year after graduation, Mingyu wakes up in an apartment across the city from his old university, and 4 subway stops away from the little house that Minghao and Soonyoung share. He wakes up to the sound of Seokmin’s quiet breathing next to him, the warmth of his arm where it’s flung over Mingyu’s chest. They fell asleep pressed together, Seokmin’s breath tickling the back of Mingyu’s neck. 

Every day Mingyu wakes up in this room, makes breakfast, goes to his office job, comes home. But it’s more than that-- he wakes up next to Seokmin, makes breakfast for both of them but puts Seokmin’s in the oven to stay warm because he won’t wake up for another 30 minutes. Before he leaves for work he gets a sleepy kiss at the door; when he comes home Seokmin will be cooking dinner, and they’ll kiss again in the kitchen before Seokmin shoos him away to change out of his work clothes.

The funny thing is, Seokmin was Soonyoung’s friend first. Mingyu did a lot of strategic avoidance of his soulmate-and-his-soulmate’s-boyfriend in college, but their school wasn’t that big, and their social circles overlapped by a friend or two. Mingyu’s memory of meeting Seokmin isn’t as clear as when he met Minghao, but none of his other memories are, either. It still stands out though; Mingyu remembers funny parts about it, like the wine-red throw that was draped over the back of the couch, and the shirt with the long sleeves that Seokmin was wearing, covering his hands a little bit. 

It had been the tail end of finals week, at the end of their third year. Mingyu came home from his last exam to find his friends drunk in his living room-- at least most of them were his friends. Hansol invited Chan who invited Minghao, who brought Soonyoung, who invited Seokmin… or so Hansol tells him. He knows that Mingyu and Minghao roomed together their first year but he doesn’t know any of the soulmate stuff. It’s kind of weird to see Minghao here now; since they both moved out of the dorms, they don’t cross paths nearly as often. He’s by far the most sober one in the room; Soonyoung has moved past noisy straight into sleepy and is slumped against Minghao’s side. Minghao kisses the top of Soonyoung’s head. Mingyu looks away.

Hansol is already dragging Chan to his bedroom to sleep on the futon. Minghao pulls Soonyoung to his feet, still carrying most of his weight. He gives Mingyu a small, apologetic smile.

“We’re going to head out, do you think Seokmin can crash here with you guys?”

This is when Mingyu notices him; Seokmin is already fast asleep, curled up in an armchair like he’s trying to take up as little space as possible. It’s cute, in a kind of funny way. Mingyu nods to Minghao, who maneuvers Soonyoung out the door.

Seokmin is kind of heavy, Mingyu discovers while he’s carrying him to the couch. He’s sort of thin but apparently very dense, and will not uncurl himself from the fetal position he’s in, so Mingyu just kind of tucks a blanket around him and goes to bed. 

In the morning, Mingyu finds Seokmin rooting around in his pantry, trying to make breakfast in apology for having spent the night. He’s charmed, a little bit, and they end up making pancakes together. Hansol and Chan come into the kitchen to find them both eating standing up at the counter, Mingyu still in his apron, terribly domestic. 

Mingyu doesn’t know what it was, exactly, that drew him to Seokmin. When they met, Mingyu was still hung up on Minghao, still a little bit bitter towards Soonyoung. Hanging out more with Seokmin meant seeing more of Soonyoung, and by extension, Minghao. Maybe it helped, in the long run, being faced with their love like that. Minghao’s love is loud without words, the way his whole being seems to reach towards Soonyoung like a plant towards sunlight, unselfconsciously adoring.

He saw a lot of the three of them that summer; afternoons bled into quiet evenings in his apartment, windows wide open to let in the breeze. He and Seokmin would sit on the floor, backs leaning against the couch, and finish the bottle of whatever wine Minghao had left last time.

“I always thought that Soonyoung and Minghao were crazy,” says Seokmin. He’s staring at the ceiling, a little crease between his eyebrows that Mingyu wants to smooth out. “I mean, Minghao has a soulmate, right? So I always wondered why he stayed with Soonyoung.”

Mingyu holds his breath. He hasn’t told anyone that he’s Minghao’s soulmate; he doesn’t think Minghao has told anyone besides Soonyoung, either.

Seokmin hums, turning to look at Mingyu. “But I think it’s nice. So many people meet their soulmate and expect that everything will work out. But Soonyoung and Minghao choose to love each other, even without that kind of guarantee.”

Mingyu turns the words over and over in his head, later when the apartment is full of shadows, Seokmin asleep on the couch. Imagines what it might be like to choose to love someone that much for that long.

Hard, sometimes, he finds out. He and Seokmin lose their minds to the monotony of work their first year out of university, both slogging through bottom-rung jobs in high-rise office buildings. Seokmin is so miserable that Mingyu urges him to quit, then works overtime three days a week so they can make rent. It’s okay; when Seokmin finds work at the bakery a couple blocks from their apartment, it somehow feels like their first day living together, even if they moved in months ago.

Today, Seokmin comes home later than usual. It’s a Saturday, which means that Mingyu has just been lazing at home and waiting for him to get back. He got bored and prepped dinner, but it’s only five in the evening, so all the vegetables are sitting in little piles on the chopping board, and Mingyu is sitting in a beam of golden hour sunlight, listening to Seokmin’s key turn the lock in their front door. He tilts his head back against the couch when the door opens, eyes closed.

“You’re not going to kiss your boyfriend?”

“Um,” Seokmin sounds so nervous that Mingyu sits up and turns around to look at him. His boyfriend is holding a dog in his arms. “Hi?”

Mingyu looks at Seokmin’s wide, earnest smile. Down at the dog wiggling in his hold. Back at Seokmin. He is so fucking in love.

Mingyu doesn’t know if it’s easier to be with your soulmate. He doesn’t care. This is a love he’s made for himself, Seokmin the center of his own domestic paradise. This is a love they chose together, and a love they will keep choosing, again and again and again.

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: i started writing this, forgot about it for a month, then banged out the entire thing in like a couple hours when i should have been working on my ggjb entry that i highkey have not started. 
> 
> Love Is A Choice And It's A Choice We Make Together is my #1 favorite trope, followed by Love Is Not Enough. they kind of go together, but if i think about it too much i lose my fucking mind. so anyway.
> 
> find me on twitter @xumingheart


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